Anti-obesity and immunomodulatory effects of oil and fermented extract dried from Tenebrio molitor larvae on aged obese mice

ABSTRACT

Preventing disease and maintaining the health of the elderly are crucial goals for an aging population, with obesity and immune function restoration being of paramount importance. Obesity, particularly visceral obesity characterized by excessive fat accumulation around the abdominal organs, is linked to chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and immune dysfunction. Globally, obesity is considered a disease, prompting significant research interest in its treatment. Therefore, it is essential to explore potential therapeutic and preventive strategies to address obesity and the decline in immune function brought about by aging. Tenebrio molitor larvae (TML), commonly known as ‘mealworms,’ are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, including oleic and linoleic acids, and essential amino acids, such as isoleucine and tyrosine. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of the consumption of TML oil and mealworm fermented extract (MWF-1) on obesity and immunological changes in aged obese mice. Our data showed reduced body fat in 23-week-old C57BL/6 mice fed processed TML products for 6 weeks. Additionally, the characteristically high levels of serum triglycerides decreased by treating with TML oil. The immune responsiveness results confirmed an increase in B cells by treating with MWF-1, while cytokine levels (interferon-gamma, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-2, and −6) were restored to levels similar to young mice. These results suggest that TML oil and MWF-1 are promising dietary supplements for addressing obesity and restoring immune function.

KEYWORDS:

• Aging
• obesity
• Tenebrio molitor
• insect consumption
• immunomodulatory effects

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.co.kr) for English language editing.

Author contributions

Conceptualization, D.H.K., K.-Y.K. and J.-J.K.; methodology, S.-K.M., C.J.J., S.J., and S.H.P.; software, S.-K.M., C.J.J., S.J., and S.H.P.; formal analysis, K.-W.P., B.-G.J., and K.-Y.K.; investigation, S.-K.M., C.J.J., S.J., S.H.P., D.H.K., K.-Y.K. and J.-J.K.; resources, D.H.K., K.-Y.K. and J.-J.K.; data curation, S.-K.M., C.J.J., S.J., S.H.P., H.B.S., H.K., Y.-J.C., D.-H.P., and S.C.R; writing – original draft preparation, S.-K.M., D.H.K., K.-Y.K. and J.-J.K.; writing – review and editing, S.-K.M., S.C.R, D.H.K., K.-Y.K. and J.-J.K.; visualization, S.-K.M. and K.-Y.K.; project administration, D.H.K., K.-Y.K. and J.-J.K.; funding acquisition, D.H.K. and J.-J.K.

Data availability statement

Data are contained within the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Institutional review board statement

This animal experiment was approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) of SCNU IACUC-2021-06.

Informed consent statement

Not applicable.

Additional information

Funding

This research was carried out with the support of a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2021R1C1C1006874 to J.-J.K.) (2023R1A2C1007284 to D.H.K.) and Sunchon National University Research Fund in 2021 (grant number 2021-0251 to J.-J.K.).